Press Releases

Energy industry experts discuss changing landscape

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (March 1, 2019) ‒ The changing energy landscape, the importance of grid resilience and emerging engineering technology were main topics of discussion this week at POWER Engineers Incorporated’s (POWER) Power Delivery Design Conference.

The annual conference, which is held at the Sun Valley ski resort just north of the company’s Idaho headquarters, brings together industry leaders from across the country to share knowledge, swap war stories and discuss how to adapt to the ever-changing industry.

This year’s conference featured Wes Speed, vice president of Transmission Operations for Oncor Electric Delivery, the sixth-largest transmission and distribution utility in the United States. Speed shared his perspective on the changing ERCOT market and how Oncor is set to adapt this year and beyond.

A panel of experts from POWER, IEEE, Avista Utilities and San Diego Gas & Electric discussed the proliferation of distributed energy resources and its associated challenges. Major topics of discussion included how distributed energy is disrupting the traditional utility business model and how utilities can plan for and adapt to DER. More end users, including commercial and industrial, are turning to behind-the-meter DER as a source of resilient, reliable power.

Other presentation topics included Building Information Modeling, emerging visual technology for energy projects and wildfire preparedness.

“Every year, the conference’s central focus is the new issues our clients are facing,” said Randy Grass, the conference’s emcee and POWER senior vice president. “We want attendees to come away with current, valuable information they can incorporate either in new projects or in their business practices.”

The 30th annual conference will be held on March 4-5, 2020. Energy executives, utility managers and engineers should call their POWER contact or email conference organizer Sara McClarin at sara.mcclarin@powereng.com for an invitation.